Nov. 17, 2008
Washington, D.C. - The No. 22-ranked Georgetown University men's basketball team tips off the 2008-09 season on Monday night, hosting Jacksonville University in a non-league matchup at Verizon Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The game will be shown live on MASN, with Jason Knapp and Mark Tillmon calling all of the action. Fans can listen to the game on AM 570, with Rich Chvotkin, in his 35th year at the microphone, providing the play-by-play.
This is the second-straight year the Hoyas have met the Dolphins. Georgetown posted an 87-55 win last year at Verizon Center, with Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) scoring 15 points and DaJuan Summers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) chipping in 14 points as 11 different players scored for the Hoyas. The all-time series between the teams is tied at one win apiece.
Georgetown was selected to finish seventh in the BIG EAST Conference according to a poll of the league's coaches announced at the annual media day. The Hoyas were ranked No. 22 in the country in the Associated Press preseason poll and were tabbed No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' poll.
Summers was one of 10 players selected to the 2008-09 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, while freshman forward Greg Monroe (Gretna, La./Helen Cox) was tabbed as the league's Co-Rookie of the Year.
The Hoyas, the two-time defending regular season champions, were picked seventh in the 16-team league. Georgetown finished last season with a 28-6 overall record and a 15-3 mark in the BIG EAST to win the regular season crown for the second-straight season, the first time it had been accomplished since 2004 and the first time a Hoya team had ever done so.
Summers has been a starter at Georgetown since early in his freshman season. Last year, he averaged 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and helped guide the Hoyas to their second-straight BIG EAST Regular Season Championship and third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. As a freshman, Summers averaged 9.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game and was selected to the All-BIG EAST Rookie Team. Georgetown won both the BIG EAST Regular Season title and the Tournament Championship in 2006-07 and Summers was named to the All-Tournament team, averaging 12.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Hoyas are under the direction of fifth-year Head Coach John Thompson III, who has guided the Blue and Gray to a 100-36 overall record and a 46-20 mark in the BIG EAST Conference. The Hoyas reached the 2007 NCAA Final Four, have been selected to the last three NCAA Tournaments and have won three BIG EAST Championships (two regular season, one tournament) during that span.
